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Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, is seen ahead of a meeting with Sen. Tommy Tuberville in Washington on Dec. 2, 2024.
Trump may swap Hegseth for DeSantis to helm DoD
Hegseth is facing multiple misconduct allegations, including financial mismanagement related to his work with veteran nonprofit groups, sexual assault, sexism, and alcohol abuse. Unsurprisingly, the former Fox News host faces increasingly long odds of being confirmed by the Senate, with as many as six Republican senators considering voting against him. Nonetheless, Hegseth says he’s not backing down.
Perhaps more surprisingly, Trump is reportedly considering Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Hegseth. Over the years, Trump and DeSantis have had a … fraught relationship, drifting back and forth as allies, competitors, and even enemies. Trump repeatedly lashed out against his rival – and DeSantis didn’t exactly hold back.
It appears, however, that despite past animosity, Trump has warmed to the idea of DeSantis replacing Hegseth. DeSantis will almost certainly face an easier confirmation process and spare the incoming Republican administration the embarrassment of a confirmation vote defeat in the Senate.
We’ll be watching whether Trump follows through. Meanwhile, the transition team is reportedly also considering Republican Sens. Joni Ernst and Bill Hagerty.
February 17, 2024: OpenAI Sora logo on a smartphone display
We’re Sora-ing, flying
OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind the ChatGPT chatbot, has begun previewing its next tool: Sora. Just like OpenAI’s DALL-E allows users to type out a text prompt and generate an image, Sora will give customers the same ability with video.
Want a cinematic clip of dinosaurs walking through Central Park? Sure. How about kangaroos hopping around Mars? Why not? These are the kinds of imaginative things that Sora can theoretically generate with just a short prompt. The software has only been tested by a select group of people, and the reviews so far are mixed. It’s groundbreaking but often struggles with things like scale and glitchiness.
AI-generated images have already posed serious problems, including the spread of photorealistic deep fake pornography and convincing-but-fake political images. (For example, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign used AI-generated images of former President Donald Trump hugging Anthony Fauci in a video, and the Republican National Committee did something similar with fake images of Joe Biden.)
While users may not yet have access to movie-quality video generators, they soon might — something that’ll almost certainly supercharge the issues presented by AI-generated images. The World Economic Forum recently named disinformation, especially that caused by artificial intelligence, as the biggest global short-term risk. “Misinformation and disinformation may radically disrupt electoral processes in several economies over the next two years,” according to the WEF. “A growing distrust of information, as well as media and governments as sources, will deepen polarized views – a vicious cycle that could trigger civil unrest and possibly confrontation.”
Eurasia Group, GZERO’s parent company, also named “Ungoverned AI” as one of its Top Risks for 2024. “In a year when four billion people head to the polls, generative AI will be used by domestic and foreign actors — notably Russia — to influence electoral campaigns, stoke division, undermine trust in democracy, and sow political chaos on an unprecedented scale,” according to the report. “A crisis in global democracy is today more likely to be precipitated by AI-created and algorithm-driven disinformation than any other factor.”
US election: The GOP falls in line behind Trump
Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody. Ian Bremmer here and back in New York City for a Quick Take to kick off your week. Plenty happening around the world, but it is the United States election narrative that seems most important to me this week. Why?
Well, first, Tim Scott endorsed Donald Trump. Ron DeSantis dropped out, endorsed Donald Trump. It is absolutely looking like the GOP is once again Donald Trump's party. The primary season, of course, is not over. Nikki Haley from South Carolina is still in it, but it is hard for me to see how she takes a state. I look at the polls, I don't see what's available to her. She's making a lot of money and certainly there are lots of people that would like to see someone other than Trump, especially because Trump's track record over the last three elections have been so poor and the coattails are challenging, the primaries. You can beat centrists from the GOP, but then when you're actually up in a campaign itself, they've underperformed. So for all of those reasons, there are plenty of people that don't want to see Trump in the presidential race against Biden that Nikki Haley, or just about anybody else would probably beat Biden much more easily.
But Trump is dominant in the GOP, and I think it is all over but for a couple more sort of day cycles. It's hard for me to see how Nikki has a path to the nomination. I guess it is conceivable that she would stay out there and become a never-Trump voice. I personally doubt it. I expect that she will end up endorsing Trump just as almost everyone, except Chris Christie, has that's been going against him. I see across the board the GOP getting in line and becoming loyal to their nominee. And that's important because it looks very likely, increasingly likely, that Trump will indeed be convicted, at least in Washington, DC, in all of these indictments that you see before he is facing the election on November 5th. But if he's convicted after he's already gotten the nomination, the overwhelming majority of those in the GOP are going to say either “it doesn't really count for much. We still support him”, or even “it's politicized. It's not a real case. We think it's a witch hunt, as Trump has been saying. We think we need to go against and investigate the Bidens and those that have supported them.”
So the impeachment schedule for all sorts of characters around the Biden administration grows in a Republican-led House. I'd say dominated, but it's not. They only have a two-seat majority right now. But otherwise, the speaker goes if they don't do their bidding. And also that this doesn't really undermine Trump's ability to be competitive in the election overall. If you made me bet right now, I'd say Trump is 60:40 likely to win the presidency, but I have very low conviction around that.
First of all, these are both very old candidates. Anything could happen to them in ten months leading up to the election. Secondly, there's been all sorts of new unexpected news in a very volatile geopolitical environment. A year ago, no one was talking about war in the Middle East, people saying how stable it was. Now it's dominating the news every day. You really think we get through ten more months without another out of the blue significant geopolitical conflict? Frankly, I doubt it. North Korea would be the most likely to see a true wild card, but massive expansion of the Middle East also certainly plausible. Plenty of other places too. Cyber attacks, challenges with AI disinformation in the US election. This is going to be an electoral cycle that is going to have all sorts of out of the blue risks. And so to come out early and say, I feel confident that Trump is going to win or Biden is going to win, strikes me as pretty foolish at this point.
There was a consensus in Davos that Trump is going to do much better than people think, that Biden should really step down. The Davos consensus is frequently wrong. Does that mean you bet against it? No, it just means it's not a very interesting data points. I don't talk very much about it, frankly, but I do think it's important that all of the people attending, both on the corporate side, the financial side, and especially on the government side, finally do understand that Trump is for real again, that he's getting the nomination and he can easily be the next president. So if that consensus means that European leaders in particular and others are going to start preparing for how they would engage with a Trump presidency 2.0, for how they will respond to a Trump presidency 2.0, how they prepare themselves for the policy implications and the uncertainties of their most important ally being so much more volatile over the course of four years.
I think that is a very positive thing indeed. So that's a little bit of where I see the race right now and what we're going to be expecting real soon. The willingness to jump on board and support Trump no matter what he has said about you before, no matter how he is acted, just like DeSantis is pulling a Ted Cruz. Watch everyone get ready to do that in the coming weeks.
That's where we are. Hope everyone's doing well and I'll talk to you all real soon.
- No-show Trump wins first GOP debate ›
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- Ian Explains: Trump's Republican competition ›
- Biden's 2024 election vulnerabilities and strengths ›
- Will the Supreme Court decide the 2024 election? ›
- Al Gore on US elections & climate change - GZERO Media ›
- Trump continues to lead the GOP charge - GZERO Media ›
- GZERO WORLD with Ian Bremmer returns for Season 7 - GZERO Media ›
- CISA chief warns of rise of disinformation, election meddling after Nov 5 - GZERO Media ›
The identity politics trap
From race to gender to profession to nationality, we define who we are in a million different ways. Many people feel strongly about those identities; they are a fundamental part of how we see the world, find community, and relate to each other. But despite good intentions on the progressive left, at what point does focusing on what makes us different from each other hurt our society more than it helps? When does a healthy appreciation for culture and heritage stifle discourse and deny mutual understanding?
On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, political scientist and author Yascha Mounk weighs in on identity, politics, and how those two combine to create the complicated, contentious idea of “identity politics.” Mounk’s latest book, “The Identity Trap,” explores the origins and consequences of so-called “wokeness” and argues that a counter-productive obsession with group identity has gained outsize influence over mainstream institutions.
"I think the important thing is not to build a culture in which we are forced to double down on narrow identities," Mounk tells Bremmer, "in which we cease to build the broader identities, like ones as Americans, but allow us to sustain solidarity with people who are very different from us."
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
Ian Explains: Will voters care about "anti-woke" politics in 2024?
What happened to the war on wokeness?
For the past few years, the battle against the “woke mind virus” has dominated Fox News’ nightly coverage, but lately, Fox has led with issues like immigration and inflation. Self-styled “anti-woke” 2024 GOP primary candidates Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy are already out of the race, and anti-woke crusader Ron DeSantis’ poll numbers fell by 20 points in the last year.
Does this mean conservatives no longer care about fighting the “woke mob”? Not exactly. Landmark SCOTUS rulings striking down things like abortion and affirmative action and upholding religious and gun rights have signaled to voters that progressive policies have successfully been dismantled, so there’s less urgency from the right.
But an anti-woke worldview is still very much a part of conservative identity. Just look at the backlash, especially on the right, to last month’s Congressional hearing about anti-semitism on university campuses, which quickly forced the presidents of Harvard and UPenn to resign. Republicans may no longer identify as anti-woke, but anti-woke by any other name is still the heart of conservative values.
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld or on US public television. Check local listings.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a campaign event, in Clinton, Iowa, U.S., January 6, 2024.
Trump to skip debate and star in town hall
Move over, DC, the political hub of the US is in the midwest this week.
Wednesday night is the final GOP debate before primary voting kicks off in Iowa on Friday. The pressure is on for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who are hoping to put a dent in Trump’s resounding lead. The two were the only candidates to qualify under the host network CNN’s higher requirements, which knocked out former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump is skipping Wednesday’s debate, as he has the past four, and will instead host a town hall in Iowa, televised on Fox News.
Trump, whose legal troubles have him eager to clinch the nomination as quickly as possible, is looking to earn a decisive win in Iowa. He has ratcheted up attacks on opponents over the last week, particularly against Haley. The question is whether she and DeSantis, who have resisted turning on the former president, will now fire back against Trump on the debate stage.2023 game changers that weren’t
What we thought would stir up the political landscape in 2023… but didn’t.
1. Ron DeSantis
Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was widely viewed as perhaps the only Republican who could give former President Donald Trump a run for his money in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. He was seen as a younger, more polished version of Trump in many ways. But DeSantis’ heavy focus on fueling culture wars – his anti-woke crusade – fell flat with voters in 2023. His underwhelming and often awkward performances on the debate stage haven’t helped. Indeed, as the year comes to a close, there are few signs that DeSantis has any real shot of seizing the nomination over Trump – his approval has even fallen in Florida.
2. Yevgeny Prigozhin
Though he was 2023’s most colorful character, the exploits of this soldier of fortune, entrepreneur, media star, violent sociopath, and former hot dog vendor amounted to sound and fury signifying not much. He briefly led a mutiny that challenged the Kremlin’s power as bemused Russians and fascinated foreigners watched. Realizing too late he had too few friends in Moscow, he retreated, then later went down in a phony plane crash. Now, nothing is left but the noise.
3. The Earthquake in Turkey
In February, a massive earthquake rocked southeastern Turkey, killing 60,000 people, displacing 1.5 million, and exposing rampant corruption in the building safety bureaucracy. At the time, many thought President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s sluggish response would kill the strongman’s chances of reelection at a moment when the opposition was gaining momentum. Not so. Erdogan’s blend of Islamist populism and pugnacious foreign policy carried him comfortably back to the White Palace after all.
4. Nigeria’s youth voters
Since the country’s return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria’s politics have been dominated by two parties, the APC and PDP, and Nigerians were gearing up for another uninspiring choice in the 2023 elections — until dark horse candidate Peter Obi made his move. He broke with the PDP and threw in with the little-known Labour Party, launching an energetic campaign on social media that promised change. He captured the imagination of Nigeria’s booming youth cohort, and with the backing of ethnic Yoruba elders as well, Obi looked promising enough to make the powers that be sweat. But he came up short in an election he maintains was rigged against him, even after a court ruling upheld the results.
- How Turkey's earthquake may shape the future of its democracy ›
- DeSantis in a storm ›
- Nigeria elects political “Godfather" as president ›
- Prigozhin presumed dead ›
- GZERO End-of-the-Year lists: Top 5 political animals of 2023 ›
- 10 images that captured 2023 - GZERO Media ›
- GZERO 2023 political music playlist - GZERO Media ›
- 2024's top 10 geopolitical game changers - GZERO Media ›
Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis in a storm
Hurricane Idalia is set to make landfall on Wednesday in the US state of Florida. The storm will be the first of many this hurricane season, but it blows in at a sensitive political moment for state Gov. Ron DeSantis. The woke-bashing Republican is currently a distant second to Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, but he’s also fending off an increasingly stiff challenge from the youthful upstart conservative tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. (Poll numbers here.)
If DeSantis handles Idalia well, it’ll enable him to look experienced and presidential, drawing a contrast with Ramaswamy’s scant political experience. Of course, if DeSantis flubs it, Idalia could deal a crippling blow to his campaign.